Whatever It Takes
by a.lakewood
Summary: Inspired by something Sam said at the end of 4.19 with major spoilers for that episode. If things could have been different...
1. Chapter 1

Title: Whatever It Takes [1/?]  
Author: alakewood  
Warnings: Major spoilers for _Jump the Shark_. Like, _seriously_ major. AU. General spoilers for all of Season 4.  
Rating: PG-13  
Word Count: 1600+  
Summary: I got the idea for this from something Sam said at the end of this episode. If things could have been different...  
Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing.  
A/N: This was _supposed_ to be a one-shot, however...it didn't quite end that way. My plan had been to finish the current series' that I've got going, alas, 'the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.'

**oxoxo**

Dean hefted open the lid of the second casket, not knowing what he'd find – a third victim? His breath left him in a rush. "Oh, God," he whispered, stomach rolling. "Oh, _God._"

Adam.

Dean's mind started making connections, theories, deduced what had happened and what was happening at that very moment to Sam. To his other brother. And, for some reason he couldn't quite fathom, that didn't seem nearly as important as Adam.

This couldn't be right, couldn't be real. _How could this have happened?_ John had made certain that Adam was apart from all this, that he was safe, yet...

He had to fix it, had to save Adam. And there was only one way. "_Cas!_ Please..." He turned his face up and _prayed_, "Just _please_."

There was a quiet ripple of cloth behind him, a sound that had become so familiar in its ordinariness. Castiel's gaze was casted down, face in shadow. "Dean..." he began in that I've-got-nothing-but-bad-news-for-you voice.

"No," Dean said. "No. We didn't even have a chance to save him, Cas. You gotta give me a chance to save him."

"Maybe he wasn't meant to be saved."

Dean scoffed, feeling the tears burning in his eyes. "How can you say that? How can you- _Please,_ Cas. You want me to have unwavering faith in what you ask of me? I need a miracle. You want me to get through this? I need something to fight for."

"Millions of innocent people aren't enough?"

"They need a face. I'm asking you for _one_ thing."

"You have Sam. Do it for Sam."

"Sam's proved he's more than capable of taking care of himself. I know you can do this – why won't you?"

"It's not as simple as you make it seem. There are serious consequences."

"Screw the consequences! Just take me back so I can fix this."

"No, Dean. I can't. There are no guarantees that anything would change – he would still die. Didn't you learn that you can't change the past when your mother made her deal?"

Dean was silent, leaning against the side of the casket, staring at Adam's pale, blood-spattered face, sightless eyes wide and dull as they stared at the ceiling. Dean couldn't tear his own eyes away for fear he'd glimpse Adam's mutilated stomach and remember his time in Hell.

Castiel laid a hand on Dean's shoulder, which was promptly shrugged off. "I can't take you back, but..." the angel sighed, a weary, defeated sound, "I can bring him back."

Dean wasn't sure he'd heard right. Still gripping one of the lift bars, he looked over his shoulder at Castiel. "What?"

"I can resurrect him," he clarified. "But you must understand, there will be _consequences_."

"Like? He'll be a zombie? He won't have a soul?"

"No – Adam will be just as he was before he died. There will be other repercussions."

"Then I'll handle them. If you can bring him back, do it." He took a step back from the casket, allowing Castiel to move closer. "Please."

"You need to go to Sam. I'll take care of Adam."

"But-"

"Go. He's not faring well. I will take Adam to Bobby's. You will find him there, well."

Dean waited until Castiel's eyes met his, struck with the weight of the sadness in them, before he finally backed away from the casket.

"There's a window." Castiel gestured towards the ceiling where an angel-inlaid stained glass window was covered with leaves above the mausoleum.

**oxo**

Dean arrived in time to watch the Adam that wasn't _Adam_ crumple to the floor – somehow Castiel's doing, he was sure – and the thing that looked like Adam's mother stilled her blade as she stared at the body with curiosity and confusion. "Hey!" He took a shot at her and rushed to Sam's side, using one of the abandoned knives to cut free the ropes binding his brother's wrists. He moved around the end of the table for Sam's other arm.

"Dean," Sam breathed. "Ghouls."

Which meant... But Dean was grabbed from behind and shoved into a bookcase before he was able to finish that thought. He could hear Sam's blood dripping loudly into the bowls on the floor and it made the adrenaline race through his body even faster. He got his arms under himself and pushed his body off the floor as hard as he could, throwing the ghoul off his back. He scrabbled for his gun, turned on his side, and shot her square in the face. He lie there, panting for a moment, thankful it was over, before he remembered, "Sam."

Sam could barely keep his eyes open, only slivers of hazel and white between the lids as he tracked Dean's movement.

Dean cut the ropes from Sam's other wrist and carefully sat his brother up, taking cloth napkins off the table and wrapping them tightly about Sam's forearms.

"Thank you," Sam whispered.

**oxo**

Bobby leaned across the dining room table to reach for the books across from him, but the tome he was looking for was not among them. He sighed and pushed his chair back from the table, stretching as he stood, and headed for the bookcase against the far wall. Trailing a finger across worn and cracked leather spines, he muttered to himself trying to remember if the book had been written in Hebrew or Aramaic.

There was a soft swish of cloth behind him, as though a breeze had billowed the curtains open – but the window was closed...

Bobby's hand stilled, shoulders tensing, as he realized that he had no weapons nearby. Slowly, he turned. "You?" he questioned indignantly before his eyes focused on the full scene in front of him – the body on his dining room table.

Castiel glanced up at Bobby, but couldn't look him in the eye. "I had to bring him somewhere safe."

"Who?" His tone of voice unchanging as he stepped forward.

"Adam. Dean and Sam's brother. John's son."

Bobby squinted at the angel from under the bill of his cap. "What?" He moved closer, swallowing thickly when he saw that the boy had been disemboweled. "He's dead; what are you going to do?"

"Turn away your eyes," Castiel instructed.

"What are you going to do?" Bobby repeated.

"Dean asked me to...bring him back."

"And you said yes?"

"Adam should not have died."

"That doesn't mean he should be _brought back_. It will just cause more problems – look what happened with Sam."

"You would rather Sam had stayed dead?"

"No-"

"That's how Dean feels about Adam – his death was senseless."

"Resurrecting him: what's the price?"

When most would have avoided eye contact is when Castiel's eyes finally met Bobby's. "This is the ultimate display of disobedience. Angels do not possess the ability to choose who is worthy of life, much less undo what has already come to pass. We simply carry out orders, we do not make our own. They will..." Castiel paused, seemingly searching for the right words. "I will be forced to return to Heaven where I will await judgment."

"Will it be worth it?"

"Dean is not fully aware of the outcome of his decision, but he seems to think so. He said he needed something to fight for; he needs this."

"I don't like it."

"You don't have to like it."

"Who will guide him?"

"You have brought him this far. He has faith in you. And, there's Anna. He will still receive the direction he needs. Dean is on the right track, he knows what he must do."

"We're running out of time."

"He will not fail."

"What if-"

"You must have faith in him also."

"I do, I just...He's been through so much already and it's a lot for him to take on."

"But it is his burden to bear." The words were quiet, uttered with a sense of finality. "Please, turn away your eyes."

Bobby left the room, closed the door, and leaned against it with his eyes closed. He wasn't taking any chances after Pamela. After a moment, he felt the hair on his arms and on the back of his neck stand as if the air had suddenly become charged with static electricity. It didn't last long and he was left with skin that felt too sensitive, tingly.

The absolute silence of the house was broken by a deep gasp for breath from the dining room. Bobby paused and remembered the body – Sam and Dean's _brother_ - that had been laid across his table, atop notes and various books. He quietly opened the door to survey the scene, unsure what to expect.

The kid was half on his side, leaning on his left elbow, coughing into the crook of his right arm. His eyes flashed in Bobby's direction when the door opened, then he frantically glanced about the room. "What happened? Where am I? Who are you?" he questioned in a rush, voice hoarse.

"Take it easy, son," Bobby said placatingly. "I'm Bobby Singer, I'm a friend of John's. Do you remember what happened to you?"

Adam eased himself into a sitting position, eyes widening in horror as he glimpsed his blood-stained jeans. "N-no," he stuttered. "I don't remember anything. What _happened_ to me?"

"I'm not-" Bobby was interrupted by the trill of the cellphone in his pocket. He watched Adam for a moment, certain that the kid was in too much shock to run off, and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Bobby? It's Dean."

"The kid's here. What kind of mess have you got yourself into now?"


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Whatever It Takes [2/?]  
Author: alakewood  
Warnings: Spoilers for 4.19.  
Rating: PG for this part, PG-13 for the series.  
Word Count: 1000+  
Summary: With Sam and Dean still a couple of hours away, Bobby gets Adam settled in.  
Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing.

**oxoxo**

_Bobby was interrupted by the trill of the cell phone in his pocket. He watched Adam for a moment, certain that the kid was in too much shock to run off, and answered the phone. "Hello?"_

"Bobby? It's Dean."

"The kid's here. What kind of mess have you got yourself into now?"

"I'm not in any kind of trouble," Dean immediately protested. "Look, Bobby, I know what it seems like-"

"And this is exactly what it _seems_ like, son. You and Sam better shag ass here and I'll get Adam settled in." Bobby slid the phone back into his pocket and returned his attention to the confused kid on his dining room table. "I'm not exactly sure what's going on or what happened to you," he said, "but Sam and Dean are on their way and they'll have answers for you."

"Sam and Dean?" Adam carefully scooted off the table but still accidentally knocked one of the books to the floor. He was unsteady on his legs and almost took a fall when he started to bend to retrieve it.

"Got it," Bobby said, deftly picking up the book. "Sam and Dean – your brothers."

"My what? I have...I have _brothers_?" It was more than vertigo that made Adam sway on his feet that time.

"You didn't- you didn't know?"

Adam swallowed thickly and shook his head, looking so _lost_. "No. Dad, uh, Dad never told me."

Bobby wasn't sure what to say, if he should say anything at all, so he just bypassed the subject altogether. "You've gotta be hungry, huh? And you probably want to get out of those...clothes." Bobby led him upstairs to one of the spare rooms. "You can stay in here for now; the bathroom's across the hall. Go ahead and shower and I'll find you something to wear. When you're ready, you can come on back down stairs and I'll see if I can find you something to eat, all right?"

Adam couldn't really argue - he didn't know where he was, had no idea what was going on at all – it wasn't like he could go anywhere even if he wanted to. But, more than that, the news of _brothers_ made him stay. "Um, Bobby?" he asked, a question suddenly coming to mind.

"Yeah, kid?"

"Where's my dad? Where's John?"

"It's-it's not my place to answer that, I don't think."

Adam just nodded and watched Bobby disappear down the hallway.

**oxo**

Bobby was in the room Sam and Dean had always shared as kids, searching through their clothing that had been left behind for something that might fit Adam. He rummaged up an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt that had belonged to Dean and a hoodie of Sam's. After leaving the small pile on the bed in Adam's room, he headed back down to the kitchen.

He pulled the cell phone from his pocket again and dialed Dean. "How far out are you?" he asked, opening the fridge.

"A couple of hours, I think. Why? Is he okay?"

"He's in the shower now. But he's got questions that I don't know the answers to. Kid doesn't even know that John's dead." He moved to the cupboards, still not finding much for the boy.

Dean was silent for a long moment. "Probably didn't know about us, either."

"Didn't have a clue. And I've got some questions of my own, starting with how you found him in the first place."

"Got a call from him a couple of days ago – he was looking for Dad. I explained to him that Dad...died, but-"

"But he doesn't know that John's dead," Bobby interjected.

"I know. Turned out that..." Dean sighed before continuing. "Turned out that he'd been attacked by a ghoul."

"That explains the state he was in when your angel brought him here. Malevolent sons of bitches."

Dean's laugh at that was mirthless. "Yeah. Hey? Do you know what happened to Cas?"

The length of Bobby's pause let on that something wasn't right. "We'll talk when you get here, okay?"

"Bobby?" The question was in stereo – from Dean on the phone, and Adam in the doorway to the kitchen.

"We'll talk when you get here," he repeated to Dean before hanging up the phone and turning to look at Adam. "Everything fit fine?"

"Uh, yeah. Thanks," he said, shoving his hands into the front pocket of the hoodie.

Bobby was taken aback for a moment by how much Adam looked like his brothers. The resemblance was uncanny. Dean's eyes on Sam's face, nearly.

"What?" Adam asked, feeling self-conscious under Bobby's intent stare.

"You just look a lot like them."

Adam just nodded. "Oh."

"But you must be hungry, huh?"

He nodded again.

"Let's just head into town, then," Bobby said, not wanting to have Adam poking around his collection of books and getting scared off or feeling like he was being kept captive with Bobby hovering constantly. He figured being around people might make the kid more comfortable – besides, there wasn't much in his kitchen by way of food; he'd been gone for a few days chasing down a lead and hadn't had the chance to restock his shelves. "Find a 24-hour diner or something."

"Sure."

Bobby let Adam out ahead of him and watched as he halted at the bottom of the porch stairs, eyes wide as they readjusted to the darkness and scanned the yard. The kid visibly relaxed as he took stock of the cars lined up behind the garage. "You all right?"

At least a couple pieces of the puzzle seemed to fit together. Adam knew his dad fixed cars and Bobby Singer appeared to run a salvage yard. It wasn't a stretch to assume that they worked together. "Yeah," he replied offhandedly before he faced Bobby and followed him towards the car parked near the house. "You worked with my dad?" he asked when they'd climbed into the car.

"Yeah. I knew John pretty well."

Adam was silent for a moment. "Could you tell me about him?"

"I can tell you what I know."


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Whatever It Takes [3/?]  
Author: alakewood  
Warnings: Spoilers for _Jump the Shark_ and _The Rapture_.  
Rating: PG-13  
Word Count: 1200+  
Summary: Dean and Sam arrive at Bobby's where Dean learns exactly what Cas meant when he spoke of consequences.  
Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing.

**oxoxo**

When Bobby returned to his house with Adam an hour and a half later, Dean and Sam were already inside waiting. Their heated yet quiet conversation halted as soon as they saw Adam. Dean stood and crossed the living room, awkwardly embracing his youngest brother. "You're okay."

Adam returned the hug just as awkwardly, watching Sam from over Dean's shoulder.

Dean pulled away just enough to hold Adam at arms-length to give him a good once-over. It was the kind of treatment Sam was accustomed to after particularly physical and dangerous hunts, the kind of treatment reserved for _him_, and he found himself feeling jealous of the most recent addition to his family. He cleared his throat. "Dean, he's fine."

Dean released Adam, noting the uncomfortable expression he wore, and sheepishly backed away. "Sorry."

"No, it's...fine," Adam said.

"I know there's a hell of a lot of stuff for you boys to catch up on, but it is awfully late and you've all had rather rough days. So let's just turn in and you can just have a good long chat in the morning." Bobby looked pointedly at Dean, the arch of his eyebrows hidden by the shadow from the bill of his cap.

"Yeah. Long day." Dean turned to Sam. "You wanna grab the bags from the car?"

Sam glanced at the three men in the living room, feeling like the odd one out. He rolled his eyes, sighing, "Whatever."

Adam watched Sam go, knowing his presence was responsible for the majority of the tension between his...brothers. "I think I'm gonna..." he trailed off, gesturing towards the stairs with a thumb.

Dean stared at him for a moment, still slightly awed by it all. "Yeah. Okay. Goodnight."

"Night. Thanks for earlier, Bobby."

"No problem, kid."

Dean watched Adam go, listened for the creak of the stairs as he ascended them, and turned to Bobby. "What happened earlier?"

"He wanted to know about his father, so I told him what I could," Bobby shrugged. "Kids got lots of questions, only met the man a handful of times."

"I know." Dean recalled the conversation he'd had with the ghoul masquerading as Adam, how, even in that 'handful of times,' John had managed to be a better father to Adam than he had ever been to Sam and Dean in twenty-plus years. He guessed that was the trade-off: Adam was safe and normal and fatherless while Sam and Dean were in constant danger in some of the furthest-from-normal circumstances, fighting evil side-by-side with their father. "Uh, so, hey. What happened with Cas?"

"I'm not...I'm not sure. He brought Adam back, then he disappeared."

"And you didn't talk at all?"

"We had a short conversation."

Sam entered the living room, letting his and Dean's bags slip off his shoulder onto the floor in front of the end table beside the couch. "What's going on?"

Dean didn't answer, just asked Bobby, "Conversation about what?"

"He said that they'd force him to go back- back to Heaven for what he did. That it was the..." he paused, trying to recall the exact words Castiel had used. "It was the 'ultimate display of disobedience.'"

_Disobedience_, Dean thought. That sounded like Cas. Never seemed to matter much what was right and wrong, just as long as orders were carried out. "So, he's...?"

"Gone, most likely. Way he made it sound, he's not coming back. Ever."

Dean was speechless. But Sam wasn't. "How are we supposed to stop Lilith? The apocalypse? Without Cas, how are we supposed to know if were going in the right direction with all this?"

"He said that Anna could still help and that you're on the right track." Bobby shook his head. "I still don't know how you could've asked him to do this."

"He didn't _say_ what would happen – he just said there would be consequences."

"And you didn't think to ask him what they were?" Bobby tried his damnedest to keep his voice down.

"I didn't _care!_ I just wanted..." He sighed. "I just wanted to save Adam."

"You damn Winchesters, never thinking things through. Completely reckless and going off half-cocked. Always needing to _save_ somebody."

"You don't understand-"

"Like hell I don't understand, boy."

"That's not what I-"

"Look," Sam interjected, having been silent for much longer than he was usually capable, "it's been a _really_ long day. Let's just call it a night, huh?" He glanced between his brother and Bobby.

Bobby's eyes softened, the creases at the corners of his eyes becoming slightly less pronounced, the stare he had trained on the eldest Winchester brother not nearly as hard. "All right. See you boys in the morning."

"Night, Bobby." Sam watched Bobby go then let his gaze return to Dean. "You want to check these for me?" He slid out of his jacket and held his heavily bandaged wrists out towards his brother.

"Yeah. Sure." He followed Sam out into the kitchen where the light was better and where a cache of first-aid supplies was stashed in one of the drawers under the counter. He was careful unwrapping the gauze from Sam's wounds, slowly cleaned around his hasty stitch job. Sam really should've been in a hospital with as much blood as he'd lost and how deep the wounds were, but he'd adamantly argued against it. Dean couldn't help but feel a little guilty – if he'd just accepted that Adam was dead and gone after Sam...But Sam was okay and Adam was alive and he couldn't find it in him to regret his decision. Even if Cas was gone. He glanced up at Sam, wondering why Sam hadn't been more vocal about the recent turn of events. "Let's hear it."

Sam dragged his eyes from his reflection in the window to Dean's face. "What? Hear what?"

"You've got nothing to say about what I did? No lecture?"

Sam shrugged. "No. What would it change anyway? Nothing."

Something about his brother seemed off, but Dean just chalked it up to the blood-loss and the ordeal he'd been through that night. So he dropped the subject and rebandaged Sam's wrists and they silently went to bed.

Sleep didn't come as easy for Dean as he had hoped – as tired as he was, physically and mentally, sleep eluded him. But he'd slipped into unconsciousness at some point and regained his awareness in the midst of a dream.

He was in sitting at the end of a wooden dock at the edge of a pond in a crappy cloth folding lawn chair, fishing – and that was how he knew he was dreaming even before Cas appeared at his side. He was surprised to see him, especially after what Bobby said. But his surprise was quickly surmounted by the tense urgency of Cas's words. _It's not safe here. Someone could be listening._ and _Go now._ Then he startled himself awake.

Across the room from him, Sam was asleep in the bed he'd slept in nearly every time they'd stayed at Bobby's since they were kids. He was torn – didn't want to wake Sam up for this little road trip and didn't want to not be there in the morning when Adam woke up. But he got out of bed and crossed over to Sam and nudged his brother awake. "Sam. Sammy, hey."

Sam groaned. "What? What is it?"

"Cas. He just...came to me in a dream. We gotta go."


	4. Chapter 4

**Title**: Whatever It Takes [4/?]  
**Author**: alakewood  
**Warnings**: Spoilers for _Jump the Shark, AHBL, Lazarus Rising, _and _In My Time of Dying._  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Word** **Count**: 1290  
**Summary**: Sam and Dean are getting ready to leave Bobby's to go find Castiel and Adam ends up going along with them, making the car ride more than a little tense.  
**Disclaimer**: As always, I own nothing.

**oxoxo**

"I'm gonna make a quick pot of coffee," Dean said, rubbing at his eyes with the backs of his knuckles. "Hurry up and get dressed. See you at the car in five."

Not much more than three minutes had passed before Sam appeared in the kitchen, hair still sleep-mussed, wearing a wrinkled hoodie Dean hadn't seen in a damn long time with the laces of his shoes untied. "Coffee," he said groggily.

Dean wordlessly filled a mug and handed it to him. After a moment he asked, "What about Adam? We can't just...leave him here."

"I doubt we'll be gone that long. Besides, after what he's been through, he probably should take it easy for a while."

Dean looked a little guilty. "It's just going to meet Cas here." He handed a small, folded piece of paper to Sam.

Sam opened it, lips moving as he silently read the address. "That's at least, what? A four hour drive? Not exactly the way to welcome him into the family business."

"Who said anything about him _joining the family business?_"

"You just said that you didn't want to leave him here, but you realize that we're going to find _Castiel._ An _angel. The_ angel that pulled you out of Hell? That's like throwing him right into the middle of everything."

Dean shook his head. "It doesn't put him in the middle of _anything,_ Sam."

"What's going on?" Adam asked from the kitchen doorway behind Sam.

Dean looked to Sam as if expecting _him_ to explain their argument, but he and Adam wore matching, slightly impatient expressions. "Um, we've gotta go," Dean finally said. "But I don't want to leave you here, 'cause I'm not exactly sure when we'll be back, but I don't want to make you go, either."

"I'll go," Adam said with a shrug, glancing between his brothers.

Dean nodded. "Okay."

"I just need to..."

"Yeah. We'll be outside whenever you're ready."

Sam's soft snort of disbelief as he headed out of the back door didn't go unheard by Dean.

"You got something to say?" he asked his younger brother.

"Nope." Sam dismissed himself from the conversation, clomping down the porch stairs and across a short span of grass to lean against the Impala.

Adam came out of the house a few minutes later wearing what he'd had on when Sam and Dean had arrived at Bobby's the day before. "Bobby says you're supposed to call him when – when you get 'wherever the hell you're going.' His words." He noticed the less-than-amused look on Sam's face and the tense set of Dean's shoulders as he crossed the porch and started down the stairs. "Look," he began, glancing between Sam and Dean on either side of him, "you guys can just take me home or drop me off at a bus station. I mean, I know we're brothers or whatever, but-"

"You're a Winchester, now," Sam said, pulling open the passenger's side door of the Impala, nodding into the backseat, to let Adam climb in. "This _is_ your home." He ignored the look he got from Dean over the hood of the car and put the backrest of his seat up before he got in.

"The car's exactly how I remember it," Adam said to Dean as they pulled out of Bobby's drive onto the dark, desolated stretch of highway.

"Yeah. Dad've killed me if she'd ever been in anything less than perfect condition. It's all we've really got left of him."

"We still have his journal," Sam added offhandedly.

"Dad's journal? Was there anything about me or my mom in it?" Adam asked, scooting up to the edge of the seat to look Sam in the eye.

"Wasn't exactly that kind of journal. When we found out about you, we checked, but the pages from around the time you would've been...from around the time he met your mother, they were gone."

Adam slid back against his seat. "So he tore them out. Like I was some dirty little secret? Like he was ashamed of me?"

"No," Dean said fervently, glancing into the backseat. "If anybody was kept secret, it was me and Sam. He was just trying to keep you safe from the kind of life _we_ had."

"Safe? From a life with the rest of my family? With my _brothers?_"

"Dad had a _lot_ of secrets," Sam said in response as if that had ever been a good enough excuse. "And, not telling you about us probably pales in comparison to everything else he never told you."

"_Jesus Christ_, Sam, give it a rest," Dean said in a voice too loud for the small space inside the car.

"No, Dean," Adam disagreed. "I want to know what Sam means by that."

"_I_ will explain it all later."

"I want to know _now_." He didn't sound like a petulant child, but like his angry, spurned kid brother.

"Well, for starters," Sam began, "the reason you don't remember how you got to Bobby's or what even happened in Windom? You died. You were killed by ghouls."

Adam scoffed skeptically. "Yeah."

"I'm dead serious."

"Sam, just stop!" Dean yelled.

The urgency in his oldest brother's voice gave Adam pause. His stomach dropped. "You're not kidding."

"No. You were _dead_. Don't worry, it's a Winchester thing. Me and Dean have both been there. Dean sold his soul to bring me back and then he went to Hell. An _angel_ brought _him_ back. It's what brought you back, too. Oh, and Dad? Well, Dad made a deal with a demon to-"

"That's enough, Sam!" Dean slammed on the breaks, barely pulling onto the shoulder of the highway. "Get out. Right the fuck now." He threw the shift into park and waited for Sam to get out before he did as well. Glancing at Adam, confused but still sitting in the backseat, Dean rounded the car towards Sam so he wouldn't have to raise his voice again. "I don't know what your problem is, Sam, but if it's got anything to do with Adam, you better just get over it. He's our _brother_ and he's been through a lot of shit that he doesn't even _know_ lately and you just laying it all on him is _not_ helping." In the dim glow of the headlights that barely illuminated the place they stood, Dean could see how drawn his brother's face was and the dark circles around his almost manic eyes. His anger disappeared more quickly than it had come on. "What's going on, Sam?"

Sam scrubbed shaky hands over his face, slid his fingers through his still-messy hair. "Nothing." He sighed heavily. "Look, I just. I'm sorry. Let's just go."

Dean watched as Sam went back to his door, waiting for Dean to go back to his before he got in. Inside the car, Dean hesitated a moment before shifting back into drive and pulling onto the highway.

"I didn't mean to unload all that on you," Sam said quietly. "Not like that."

"It's...it's not _okay_," Adam said, "but...I'll deal with it."

"There's a duffel bag on the floor back there," Dean said to Adam. "Dad's journal's inside. There's a small flashlight in there somewhere, too. Just start reading that – you'll understand why Dad wasn't around much and why he didn't tell you about us. Just know that everything on those pages is true."


	5. Chapter 5

**Title:** Whatever It Takes [5/?]  
**Author:** alakewood  
**Warnings:** Spoilers for _Jump the Shark_ and _The Rapture_ [from which a couple of lines of dialogue are repeated verbatim].  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Word Count:** ~2300  
**Summary:** Sam and Dean, Adam in tow, head out in search of Cas and find his vessel instead. Pretty much an AU version of _The Rapture._  
**Disclaimer:** As always, I own nothing.

**oxoxo**

"You sure that address is right?" Sam asked as Dean slowed the Impala down to a near-crawl trying to figure out which buildings was what number.

"Pretty damn," Dean replied, glancing at the scrap of paper in his hand once more. They were in an abandoned factory and warehouse district of the city and everything looked the same. At the end of the road, Dean turned around and headed back, a sign set a distance away from the street catching his eye. "There. This is it." He pulled into the drive and parked by the shipping docks. "Stay here. We'll be right back," he told Adam.

Climbing out of the car, Sam headed straight for the trunk, waiting for Dean to pop it open. "What do you think's going on?"

Dean shrugged, handing Sam a flashlight and taking the the .45 Sam held out to him. "Not sure. Cas seemed kind of...anxious."

Sam took point, wedging the toe of his boot in the gap between the doors and nudging one open, and followed Dean inside. The beams of their flashlights illuminated overturned machines and equipment, broken electrical lines spitting sparks overhead. When they reached the second level, Dean's beam fell across a sigil on the wall. "Is that...?" Sam began, tilting his flashlight so he could see his brother's face.

"_Somebody_ got sent back."

"Cas?"

Dean shone his light over a pile of twisted metal, a pair of shiny leather shoes dully reflecting it back just out of the beam's reach. "_Cas?_" He rushed over to the body, Sam in tow, and shook the angel's shoulder. But the gaze that finally met his was full of confusion and disbelief.

"What...? _No_." The timbre of his voice was wrong. Off.

"Cas?" Dean tried again.

"No, it's me. Jimmy. Jimmy Novak."

**oxo**

Adam adjusted quickly to the latest turn in events, sitting quietly beside Jimmy in the Impala's backseat as Dean questioned the man that had been Castiel's human vessel. "You don't remember anything?"

"I don't remember _much_," Jimmy clarified. "But, look, he's gone and I'm...free of that duty," he shrugged. "I have a wife and a daughter and I'm going home."

In the passenger's seat, Sam shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Jimmy looked to Dean, hoping the eldest Winchester would disagree, glancing back at Sam when Dean didn't have any response. "Why not?"

"If we've got questions for you, you can bet the other side's got questions, too."

"Let's just. We'll stop for the night and regroup.," Dean finally said. "Let's just think about this, okay?"

They stopped at a fast-food restaurant before finding a motel, the attendant at the desk in the main office eying the Impala through the full-glass door. "This isn't for one of those _Guys Gone Wild_ kind of things, is it?" the old man asked curiously, his attempt to sound disgusted failing.

"Uh, no. _God,_no," Dean said, digging a credit card and fake ID out of his wallet. "Just my brothers and a friend of ours." He shook his head. "We just need two doubles for the night."

"James Young?" the man asked, glancing between the ID picture and Dean's face before shrugging. He stood from his desk as the computer printed the receipt for Dean to sign and grabbed two keys from the hooks on the wall. He set the receipt and a pen on the counter in front of Dean, letting him sign before he handed over the keys. "To your left. Across from the vending machines."

Dean scrawled something that resembled 'James Young' on the dotted line and took the keys. "Thanks."

By the time Dean had returned to the car, Jimmy had finished off the burger and fries he'd ordered and had started on Adam's fries as well. "I haven't eaten in..._months_, I think."

"Couldn't wait?" Dean asked, turning the car around to park in front of their rooms.

Jimmy's response was unintelligible around a mouthful of hamburger.

"You and Adam can take that one, and me and Cas- _Jimmy_ will take this one. But I need to talk to you for a sec," Sam said to Dean once they'd all unloaded from the car.

"Okay." Dean tossed a keyring at Adam. "You want to wait over there with Jimmy for a minute so Sam and me can talk?"

Adam snatched the key out of the air with ease. "Yeah. I guess." He glanced at Jimmy and nodded towards the door.

"So what's going on? What do we need to 'talk' about?" Dean asked when Sam had closed the door to the second motel room behind them.

"Jimmy. I know he says he doesn't know anything, but if there's a chance he does but doesn't _know_ he knows it, then we've gotta find out what that is. I mean, if Cas got sent back upstairs, it had to have been for something big."

"Like bringing Adam back," Dean said slowly. "Maybe that's all it was."

"What if it wasn't though?"

"Why else?"

"I don't know. But you'd think if it really went against the natural order of things, Adam wouldn't be breathing right now."

Dean sighed. "So what are you saying?"

"That there's some _other reason_ that Cas was sent back. Regardless, Jimmy's not safe on his own. Like I said, we're not the only ones that'll have questions for him. We should get him back to Bobby's. Maybe hole him up in the panic room for a while."

Dean bit at his lip, nodding slightly. "And what about his family?"

"Everybody's safer this way."

**oxo**

"_Where is he?_"

Dean sat bolt upright, turning towards the door as Sam burst in. "What?" he asked, still slightly hazy from sleep.

"Jimmy."

Dean reached over to turn on the lamp between the beds just as Adam was waking up. "Jimmy? He's not in your room?"

"No. He must've snuck out when I was...getting a soda."

Even Adam had difficulty believing that line. "He said he was from Pontiac, Illinois," he offered. "Maybe he's headed there."

"Pontiac?" Dean asked, sharing a glance with Sam. "That's where..."

"Yeah. Let's go."

**oxo**

On the ride towards Pontiac, Adam started asking questions, mostly about John but also about the significance of Pontiac. Dean had just started explaining when- "Holy shit!" Adam exclaimed.

"Hi, boys," Anna said from the backseat next to Adam.

"Jesus." Dean glanced in the rearview mirror. "Anna." He turned slightly in his seat to get a better look at her. "You look..."

"Not the time," she said, slightly annoyed. "You lost Jimmy?"

"Sam was his warden."

"Sam?" The way she regarded him let him know that she knew about his extracurricular activities with Ruby. "Nevermind. You've gotta find him before _they_ do. And believe me, they're looking."

"He told Adam that he was from Pontiac, which kind of makes sense. So we're headed there," Dean said.

For the first time since she materialized in the car, Anna cast a glance at the young man beside her, but she didn't pay him any more mind than she would've any other stranger. "Any idea what happened with Cas?"

"You-you didn't know?" Dean turned even further in his seat.

"Know what?" She looked between both Sam and Dean, expecting an answer.

"It's because of me," Adam said. "I died and he brought me back." Then, to Sam and Dean, "We heard you talking earlier."

"I asked him to. It's not your fault," Dean told him.

"Regardless, you have to find Jimmy before they do. If they haven't already."

**oxo**

It was dark when Dean pulled the Impala up to the curb in front of the Novak's home in Pontiac. The front door was wide open. For the second time in just as many days, Dean ordered Adam, "Stay here." And he and Sam weren't gone long before they came running out of the house with Jimmy, a woman, and a little girl. "You take them in their car and we'll follow behind you," Dean called to Sam across the yard.

"What's going on?" Adam asked when Dean climbed back into the car.

"Demons."

"Demons," Adam repeated.

They rallied at a gas station on the outskirts of town, Dean approaching in the middle of Sam once again explaining exactly why it was best for Jimmy and his family to split up. "It's the only way for them to stay safe."

"If it's the only way..." Jimmy replied.

Then Amelia and Claire, Jimmy's wife and daughter, were driving away in their Volvo station wagon, headed for her mother's. "What now?" Adam asked when they'd all gotten back into the Impala and onto the highway.

"Bobby's?" Sam asked Dean.

"It's probably best." The interior of the car fell to silence after that, each man lost in his thoughts, Jimmy and Adam very nearly asleep, until the trill of Sam's cell interrupted the quiet.

"Hello?" He pulled the phone from his ear to look at the unfamiliar number on the screen. "Who is this?" His eyebrows drew together, wrinkling his forehead, and turned to reach into the backseat, nudging Jimmy with the phone. "It's your wife."

"Oh, my God," Jimmy whispered after a long, silent moment as he listened to whoever was on the other end of the line.

And everything happened rather quickly after that. They arrived at another factory and, again, Adam was instructed to wait in the car. But this time, he couldn't stand idly by while Sam and Dean went to go do whatever they were going to go do to save Jimmy's family. Adam had read John's journal and knew a little about demons and what they were up against. He got out of the car when Sam and Dean disappeared through the front door of the factory a couple of minutes after Jimmy went in. He knew the best defense against the demons was the Colt – a special gun – but it seemed as though Dean and Sam no longer had it, otherwise they wouldn't be so worried about protecting Jimmy. The next best defense was exorcism, but Adam could barely read John's script much less read the Latin scrawled in the back of the journal. He was halfway to the door, too far away from the car to run back to whatever safety it offered, when a guy about as tall as Sam with a build slightly heavier than Dean's rushed him from behind.

He was dragged inside, had just caught sight of Sam and Dean, who'd both been captured as well, when he saw Jimmy's wife shoot him in the stomach. It was clear that she wasn't herself, that she must've been possessed. He and the man holding him were still too far away to hear what was being said, but the man that had been restraining Sam was stalking past a severely wounded Jimmy towards the bound little girl.

Dean was the first to notice him. "Adam! What the-?"

Amelia turned in his direction. "Won't you look at that? Bagged all _three_ Winchester boys. Must be my lucky day."

Then something was happening across the room with Claire. There was a light, then...all hell broke loose. Everybody was fighting, but Adam just stood there, shocked. He watched with awe as Claire touched the demons with a palm to their forehead and killed them. His awe turned to horror when his gaze fell on Sam. He was straddling the female that wasn't Amelia and...Adam wasn't completely certain _what_ his half brother was doing until he sat up, blood dripping down his chin.

Dean's gaze followed his, landing on Sam, face remaining emotionless as Sam turned towards him with a knife in his hand. Then, with determination, Sam turned back around and plunged the knife into the woman's chest, red light crackling where she'd been stabbed and in her mouth.

Sam stood, chin still smeared with blood, and faced a slightly disgusted and confused Dean, Claire by their eldest brother's side wearing an expression of disapproval. Adam caught sight of Amelia rushing at Dean and Claire from behind a fraction of a second after Sam and watched as Sam raised a hand towards her, palm out, and she stopped abruptly mid-stride, clutching at her throat as she coughed up a roiling cloud of _black smoke._

Whatever was going on with Sam was put on hold as they went to find Jimmy. Claire was leaning over her father and they were talking in hushed voices. "Take _me,_" Adam heard Jimmy beg.

Then there was more white light, then Jimmy was okay. The blood was gone. He stood and stalked past Claire, past his wife, between Sam and Dean, pausing for the briefest of moments to glance at Adam, then he disappeared down the hall.

"Cas!" Dean called, running after Jimmy.

Not knowing what was going on, Adam followed after Dean and Jimmy when Sam did. They caught up with their brother in time to hear his short exchange with Castiel, Adam realized when the man- rather, _angel_, spoke.

"What were you gonna tell me?" Dean asked.

"I learned my lesson while I was away, Dean," Castiel said, voice deeper in pitch. "I serve Heaven, I don't serve man. And I certainly don't serve you."

Then he was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Title**: Whatever It Takes [6/?]  
**Author**: alakewood  
**Warnings**: Spoilers for _Jump the Shark, The Rapture_ and _When the Levee Breaks_; with a few lines of dialogue quoted from _The Rapture._  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Word** **Count**: 1200+  
**Summary**: Sam, Dean, and Adam return to Bobby's where Sam is promptly locked up in the panic room. AU of the end of _The Rapture_ through the beginning of _When the Levee Breaks._  
**Disclaimer**: As always, I own nothing.

**oxoxo**

Adam wondered if there had ever been relaxed silences between Sam and Dean as they traveled from state to state in their father's car. At first, he thought it was merely his presence that caused the tenseness, but after what had happened earlier that night, he knew that Sam and Dean were more than capable of creating it without his help.

It seemed that this thing with Sam had been a long time coming, just a culmination of his weird behavior that had been going on for a long time considering the lack of surprise on Dean's face when he'd caught sight of Sam's bloodied one.

"Let's hear it," Sam had said not long after they'd returned to the Impala.

But Dean had had nothing to say and the silence that had merely been tense became impossibly strained.

When they were just over an hour out from Sioux Falls, Bobby called Sam's cell. Whatever was going on sounded urgent – Adam could hear Bobby telling Sam that they'd better haul ass. The engine roared a little louder as Dean sped up, the need for a purpose or to escape the stressed quiet making his foot heavy on the gas pedal. And Adam couldn't blame him – he wasn't exactly one-hundred percent certain what was going on with Sam, but the fact that his brother was drinking blood - _demon_ blood, no less – like some kind of vampire was definitely bad. It was obvious that Dean was terrified about what Sam's behavior meant and whatever he was becoming.

But Adam had been catching little glimpses of Sam and, while he wasn't any more sure of Sam's side of the story than he was of Dean's, he knew that Sam had to have some kind of reason (however deluded) for doing what he was. Which, Adam suddenly realized, he didn't even know _what_ it even was.

Bobby met them at the door, quickly ushering them inside, talking more pointedly to Sam than to anybody else. "Downstairs. Come on."

Adam cast a sidelong glance at Dean, the dimness of the hallway keeping the motion somewhat hidden. Dean looked...expectant. And slightly nervous. Then Bobby stopped in front of a large steel door at the end of the hall, still talking to Sam as he opened it. "Go on inside, I wanna show you something."

Around Dean and between Sam and Bobby, Adam could see markings on the floor or the room beyond, odd shadows moving across it. "All right," Sam said, walking into the room. "Uh, what's the big demon problem?"

"You are," Bobby replied. "This is for your own good."

Dean helped Bobby close the heavy door before Sam had any time to react.

"Guys? Hey! This isn't funny," Sam yelled.

Adam was beyond confused as he watched Bobby close the small view window in the door, briefly locking gazes with an even more confused Sam. "Whoa. What are you guys doing?" He turned to his brother. "Dean?"

"It's for his own good," Dean said, echoing Bobby's words.

**oxo**

Sam's yelling hadn't lasted very long but, even so, Adam couldn't sleep just knowing that Sam had been _locked up_ in Bobby's basement. He stayed in bed as long as he could, but it couldn't have been much past seven or eight when he heard Dean's footsteps creaking down the upstairs hall, so he got up and followed Dean down to the kitchen. "Coffee?" Dean offered, pausing in the middle of returning the coffee pot to the warmer.

Adam shook his head, opting to sit at the kitchen table. "No thanks. I'm good."

Dean set the pot down and leaned against the counter, holding his mug between both of his hands. "You okay?"

Adam yawned, scrubbing his hands over his face. "Just tired. Couldn't sleep."

Dean nodded. "Yeah. Short night."

"_Rough_ night." He shook his head again. "What's going on with Sam? What's with locking him up like that?"

Dean sighed heavily, setting his mug of coffee down on the table before he slid into the chair across from Adam. "I-I don't know what's going with him. With _anything_ anymore. _You_ saw him last night – drinking that demon bitch's blood. I don't know what he's doing anymore." Wearily, he rubbed a hand over his face before sliding it through his already somewhat disheveled hair. "Alastair should've been a clue, but..." He trailed off. "Look, all you need to know is that Sam's...sick. Whatever he's been doing is making him sick. And it's the blood that's doing it. It's _poison._ He's gotta dry out. Sober up. _Get better._"

"Yeah." Adam pushed his chair away from the table and stood. "Well, I saw what he did to Jimmy's wife last night. How he saved her. Maybe what he's been doing to himself isn't all that bad."

Dean made an indignant sound, his mouth falling open as his eyebrows drew together. "How could you- Yeah, so you read Dad's journal, but that doesn't mean you _understand_ what's going on here."

"Do _you_ even know what's going on here?" He bit at his lip as he started for the dining room, nearly backing up right into Bobby. "Maybe you can talk to him."

**oxo**

Bobby set Adam up at the dining room table with a short stack of books about seals and the apocalypse and demons while he and Dean spoke in hushed tones in the kitchen. Shortly before noon, Dean disappeared to the basement and couldn't have been down there much longer than five minutes. But it was plenty enough time to get Sam yelling.

Adam tried to ignore it, immersing himself in the musty-smelling books.

But, a few hours later, long after Sam had gone silent, he suddenly started _screaming_ and Adam couldn't ignore it anymore. He went into the kitchen to confront Bobby and Dean. "What's going on down there?"

Dean and Bobby shared a glance. "It's probably just withdrawal," Dean said uncertainly.

"Just let him out already. I think you've proved your point."

"I'm not gonna lose Sam. Not to this." Dean's jaw was set, the muscles twitching.

"So you lock him up against his will to try to make him see it your way? All you're gonna succeed in doing is pushing him even further away."

And if that didn't sound like the tried and true Winchester way, Dean didn't know what was.

Adam shook his head slowly. "I'm not gonna be a part of this. Can't. _Won't._"

There was a flash of something dark and indefinite in Dean's eyes. He shrugged. "Then don't be."

"I hope that bird around your neck doesn't make you drown." Adam stormed out of the kitchen and up to his room.

**oxo**

"Come on, Cas! You son-of-a-bitch. Where the hell are you?!" Dean turned completely around, scanning the dark salvage yard for any signs of Castiel's presence. He was preparing to yell again when he heard the familiar flutter associated with Cas's arrival and turned again to see the angel standing in front of the girders at the end of a rack of compacted cars and parts. "Well, it's about time. I've been screaming myself hoarse for about two and a half hours now."


	7. Chapter 7

**Title**: Whatever It Takes [7/?]  
**Author**: alakewood  
**Warnings**: Spoilers for _Jump the Shark_ and _When the Levee Breaks,_ but goes even more AU.  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Word** **Count**: 1000+  
**Summary**: AU of _When the Levee Breaks._ Adam doesn't agree with what Dean's doing to their brother.  
**Disclaimer**: As always, I own nothing.

**oxoxo**

As Cas began to close the distance between them, Dean noticed that the expression on his face appeared just as hard and cold as it had been back in the warehouse in Pontiac. It made Dean uneasy. But the look softened as Cas stood before him, melted into something pained and ashamed. Whatever Cas was going to tell him in Illinois, well he was never going to learn what it was now.

Cas turned away, voice becoming as hard as his expression had been. "Get to the reason you really called me. It's about Sam, right?"

Of course it was. But Cas had nothing to tell him that he didn't already know. There were things he wasn't willing to accept, and the _thing_ that Sam would surely become if he continued down his current path...Dean refused to let it happen.

And Cas gave him the out he needed. "We believe it's you, Dean, not your brother."

Anything to save Sam, so Dean readily agreed. Made promises to a God he wasn't sure he believed in, swore to 'obey God's will' just as he would've his own father's. And that was all there was to it, then Cas disappeared again.

**oxo**

As soon as he woke up, Adam could hear Bobby and Dean arguing downstairs, something about Dean "willingly signing up to be the angels' bitch," which had honestly made him chuckle to himself. But other things that filtered through the floor, "What other option do I have?" and "...or let Sammy trust a _demon?_", made the muscles in his shoulders and the back of his neck tense with anxiety. He could see Dean's side of the situation, could somewhat understand what he was feeling, but, at the same time, didn't know how Dean could simply lock Sam – screaming for his life – away.

But the argument faded away, replaced by the sound of two sets of boots running across the wood floors in what passed for Bobby's library. The urgency of their footfalls had Adam on his feet and following within seconds and he found himself in the basement, behind Dean and Bobby, at the heavy iron door to the panic room. He couldn't see anything, but heard Sam making choking sounds in the room beyond.

"What if he's faking?"

"Do you really think he would..."

"I think he'd do anything-"

But Dean's doubts of their brother's condition were interrupted by a loud metallic thud as something hit one of the walls, hard. "That ain't fakin'," Bobby said, just before Dean started turning the handle on the door.

Adam watched with something like horror as Sam rolled along the wall, watched Dean and Bobby each grab an arm and pry him off it and force him to the floor. Sam's body kept arching up as though he were seizing, which Bobby must've thought, too, because he's pulled his belt off and shoved the leather into Sam's mouth.

"We're gonna have to tie him down for his own safety," Bobby said, struggling with Sam.

The look on Dean's face was one of abject fear as he stared down at his convulsing brother.

It didn't take long for them to get Sam handcuffed to the cot in the middle of the room. Adam retreated back upstairs and couldn't look his brother or Bobby in the eye as they passed him in the kitchen. He shook his head, taking a seat at the table, wondering how his life had become _this_, and listened as Bobby tried to figure out if Dean really knew what he was doing to Sam. What _they_ were doing to Sam.

"No. I'm not giving him demon blood – I won't do it."

"And if he dies?"

"At least he dies _human!_"

Adam could hear the anguish and fear in Dean's voice, had to wonder if that was anything like it sounded when Dean pleaded with Cas to have him resurrected. He somehow doubted it, knew that the connection Dean and Sam had was more than what he would ever have with either of his brothers.

"I won't let my brother turn into a monster," Dean said.

**oxo**

Neither Bobby or Dean paid much attention to him, were both focused on phone calls and books, trying to ignore the murmurs of Sam's voice that occasionally made their way upstairs.

The day wore on and darkness fell, both Dean and Bobby falling asleep in the library. Adam snuck down to the the basement and stood outside the door to the panic room. As he reached for the handle on the door, he heard four soft, metallic _snicks_ from the other side, as though the handcuffs on Sam's wrists and ankles were unlocking.

"Hello?" Sam called warily, not sounding possessed or drugged-out or anything out of the ordinary.

"It's just me. How'd you...?" Adam gestured towards the cot.

Sam shook his head. "I don't know. What are you doing down here?"

"I was going to...let you out. I can understand what Dean's doing, but I don't agree with it. Bobby doesn't either. They're both asleep upstairs, so we can sneak out of here." For the first time, Adam felt a tenuous link to Sam.

"We?"

"Yeah. I feel kind of responsible for all this. Everything that happened with Jimmy and Castiel. If I hadn't been there, this might not've happened to you."

"This has been going on since before you got here, Adam," Sam told him, starting for the stairs.

"At least let me come with. Let me help."

"No. I gotta do this on my own. If you know what's good for you, you won't tell Dean that you let me out. Don't tell him a thing."

Adam watched Sam quietly jog up the stairs, followed moments later, but, from the doorway, heard the squeak of metal as the panic room door closed, the locking turning back into place. He headed back down a couple of steps. "Hello?" he called out quietly, peering through the dimness of the basement, leaning over the rail to to look under the stairs.

He though he saw something tan flutter in the shadows, heard a faint ripple of cloth, but he couldn't be certain. He retreated back upstairs, through the kitchen, and up to his room, hoping that, in letting Sam go, he'd done the right thing.


	8. Chapter 8

**Title**: Whatever It Takes [8/?]  
**Author**: alakewood  
**Warnings**: Spoilers for _When the Levee Breaks._  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Word** **Count**: 1400+  
**Summary**: Sam's been let loose from the panic room and Dean and Adam find Bobby unconscious in the salvage yard. When the car that Sam had stolen is found a state away, Dean asks Adam to go with him to retrieve their wayward brother.  
**Disclaimer**: As always, I own nothing.

**oxoxo**

Adam was up in his room, lying across his bed unable to fall asleep with thoughts of Sam now on the run and worrying about Dean's reaction – how pissed off his brother would be that Sam had _somehow_ managed to escape from his demon-proof cage. He heard a rumbling chug of a car out in the salvage yard and knew Sam was soon to be gone. Then there was a sudden noise downstairs – Dean's booted feet hitting the wood floor – and Dean calling for Bobby. Adam climbed out of bed and headed down to the first floor.

Adam met Dean outside the door to the basement. "What's going on?"

"Don't know," Dean said, wiping blearily at his eyes as he suppressed a yawn. "Heard a car and Bobby's not here."

Adam glanced at the basement door. "I heard your argument earlier. You don't think..."

"That's what I'm going to find out." He led his youngest brother down the creaky stairs and to the iron door of the panic room where he peered through the small viewing window cast into the metal. "Son of a bitch," he muttered.

Adam took a step back as Dean moved to open the door. "What?" he asked, as though he didn't already know the answer.

"I don't see him." He wrenched the door open on rusty hinges and quickly took stock of the room, the cot in the middle of the room with handcuffs dangling open from the springs beneath the mattress. His gaze swept about the rest of the room, fell on the broken devil's trap on the floor. "What the hell?"

Adam looked towards the part of the devil's trap near the door, partially obscured by shadow in the room's dimness. The black iron of the outside edge of the trap was buckled and bent. "Who- who do you think let him out?"

Dean crouched down to inspect the damage, glanced over his shoulder up at Adam. "Don't know. Wasn't Bobby. That's for damn sure."

"A demon? Ruby?"

"Probably." Dean stood up, faced Adam, surveyed the room once more.

"So if it wasn't Bobby that let him out...then where'd Bobby go?"

"Good question."

**oxo**

Dean and Adam found Bobby lying out in the salvage yard, his shotgun beside him, deep ruts in the dirt from where the car that had been parked there sped away from the scene. Dean knelt next to Bobby, prodded the older man gently. "Bobby. Hey. C'mon, man."

"He okay?"

"I think so. Just looks like Sam knocked him unconscious is all," Dean spat out contemptuously. "When I find him..."

Bobby started to come to at that point, rolling over on his side and coughing. He reached for Dean and let the younger man help him sit. "Where is he?"

"Sam? Gone. What happened?"

Bobby shook his head, gingerly touched his nose. "Caught him out here tryin' to jimmy open this car door and we exchanged some words." He shook his head again. "Let my guard down, let 'im get the better of me."

"Can you get up?" Dean asked, fitting a hand beneath Bobby's elbow.

Bobby wrenched his arm away. "Do I look like an invalid? He hit me in the face, he didn't break my knees." He pushed himself up off the ground, swatting away the hand Dean still offered, then, with Dean's watchful eyes on him the whole time, led the eldest and youngest of the Winchester boys back into the house. "So, how'd he get out?" he asked, leaning against the edge of his desk while he slowly nursed a beer.

"I don't know," Dean said. "Devil's traps downstairs are all broken."

"He didn't say anything to you when you tried to stop him?" Adam asked.

"No. Not a word. Kid was just pretty hell-bent on getting out of here."

"Don't doubt it. He's probably jonesin' for his next dose of that hell-bitch's blood." Dean scoffed then stalked back off towards the kitchen for another beer.

"I know you don't agree with it either," Adam said quietly to Bobby. "The way Dean locked Sam up down there. Sam's only been trying to help."

"That may be, but..." Bobby shrugged his shoulder.

Adam pushed off the couch and walked over towards Bobby. "I just- I don't think he understands what Sam's doing. _Why_ he's doing it."

"Damn right, I don't understand," Dean said from the doorway where he'd been eavesdropping. "And I don't ever want to. There is no way Sam can justify drinking _demon blood._"

"He's saving people."

"Yeah, and he's losing himself. If that's the price of his little psychic superpower, it's not worth it."

"He's not-"

"Yeah, he _is_. You don't know him like-" Dean abruptly broke off, dropped his gaze from Adam's face. "Look, I didn't mean-"

"Yes, you did." He started towards the door.

"Adam."

"Dean," Bobby said gently. "Just give him a couple minutes. Now, Sam...you've gotta get him to come back willingly. You can't force him. The more you try to make him do things your way, the more he's gonna fight you."

"I know," Dean said. "Bobby, I _know_."

**oxo**

The following afternoon, Bobby had some info for Dean to get started on his search for Sam. Bobby's car had been found in Jamestown, North Dakota, and there had been two cars stolen: a Civic and an Escalade. Dean knew Sam like nobody else, knew how Sam would try to avoid being found by doing the exact opposite as was expected, and that was how Dean would find him. "So now I know where to start," Dean said, heading for the staircase. "Adam!" he called. "Let's go find Sam."

Adam appeared at the top of the stairs, eyed Dean warily as he started down and shared a glance with Bobby when he reached the first floor. "You sure you want to take me along?"

"Yeah. Now, come on."

Adam followed Dean out to the Impala, climbed into the seat that had been molded to Sam's body over the past three and a half years that he and Dean had been hunting together. It was just another reminder that he'd never have the same relationship with either of his brothers as they had with each other, no matter how much Dean or Sam might pretend otherwise. They just didn't have the history, the connection. Adam suddenly felt uncertain of his decision to let Sam out of the panic room – even though he probably would've escaped anyway. He didn't know if he'd helped or hurt the situation by attempting to seek Sam's trust.

Dean stared at Adam intently from the driver's seat, keys in the ignition, but he hadn't yet started the car. "What?"

Adam turned his eyes towards Dean, unexpectedly feeling the urge to admit to Dean what he'd done. "Nothing. Just...Do you think we'll find Sam before- before he finds Lilith?" Adam hadn't been completely filled in on every detail of the story, but he'd gotten the Cliff's Notes version from Bobby shorty after they'd gotten back from Pontiac.

"Yeah, of course," Dean replied quickly, turning the key in the ignition, the radio blaring the only classic-rock radio station in Sioux Falls.

Melancholy piano and the lyrics "Oh freedom - well, that's just some people talkin'. Your prison is walking through this world all alone."

Dean pushed the tape in the deck back in. "'Desperado,'" he muttered. "Damn depressing." Zeppelin started filtering through the speakers. "That's more like it."

Adam settled back into Sam's seat, glancing over at Dean. He tried to reassure himself that Sam would've found a way out of the panic room even if he hadn't been the one to open the door for him – somebody'd broken those devil's traps, and it hadn't been him. "So, what now?"

"Head for Jamestown. Hopefully Bobby's got more for us by the time we get there. It's about a four- or five-hour drive, so..." Dean reached for the volume knob and turned it up, drowning out the sound of the tires on the highway, and focused his eyes on the road.

Adam didn't know what was going to happen, he just hoped he hadn't screwed up his chances of becoming a part of the only family he had left.


End file.
